Rumor: Samsung making the next Nexus phone

If the Samsung Galaxy Nexus doesn’t do it for you (and for many, it doesn’t) there’s always the next Nexus to look forward to. But if you were hoping for an HTC, Motorola or ASUS phone to bear Google’s developer branding, you may be out of luck. DigiTimes reports that Samsung has won the bidding to become the manufacturer of the next Nexus, probably due late this year or in early 2013. Samsung has made the past two Nexus devices, the Galaxy Nexus and Nexus S, while HTC made the original Nexus One back in January of 2010.

Treat this story with caution, dear readers – DigiTimes has a well-earned reputation for jumping the gun, though their predictions turn out to be true about as often as they aren’t. With that warning out of the way, Samsung makes sense as the makes of the next developer device. Google and Samsung have gotten very close over the last couple of years, and implementing Android has helped Samsung to become the top phone maker on the planet and rival Apple in smartphone sales.

In any case, DigiTimes’ story says that the phone hasn’t even reached the early stages of development yet. It’ll be many months before rumors of the next developer device begin coming to light in earnest, whoever’s making it.